This invention relates to an intelligent roadway system. More particularly, the present invention relates to utilizing wireless device technology to provide an intelligent roadway system.
Although, there have been improvement in roadway control systems over the past several years to provide better services for roadway users, many problems still exist and remain unresolved.
As an example, same roadway systems employ video cameras at pressure sensitive zones of a roadway to feed back traffic information of the zones which is then relayed to the users. However, video cameras are not pervasive on the roadways and the traffic information provided by these cameras is often untimely. These video cameras are also affected by weather conditions such as snow, leaves, rain and intense sunlight.
As another example, tollbooths have been widely used where cars must stop to make a payment. This slows down traffic and often leads to traffic jams particularly on heavily used roadways. Automated toll collecting systems, such as xe2x80x9cEZ passxe2x80x9d have been introduced to reduce waiting time of drivers on tollbooths of roadway. However, these systems still require the use of tollbooths for charging pre-paid debit cards.
Moreover, the cost of maintaining roadways, such as repairing roadways and building new roadways or bridges, is not always fairly charged based on the usage of roadways because of the lack of information on the usage of roadways as well as the inability to efficiently track roadway usage to a particular user.
In accordance with an aspect of this invention, there is provided an intelligent roadway system which is configured to detect and track a usage of a roadway by a vehicle by identifying a wireless device carried on the vehicle. The account of the user, associated with the wireless device, is charged for the usage of the roadway based on the detected information through the wireless device. The billing information may be transferred to a predetermined billing authority based on the user""s selection.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention, road services, such as directions, weather forecast and traffic status information, are provided interactively through the wireless device while the vehicle is on the roadway.
It is not intended that the invention be summarized here in its entirety. Rather, further features, aspects and advantages of the invention are set forth in or are apparent from the following description and drawings.